After a lackluster 2011 season, Pro Team Astana has done, at least on paper, ajudicious recruitment during the offseason. Indeed, the Kazakh staff tried to assess one of the weaknesses of the team with the arrival of sprinters Borut Bozic and Francesco Gavazzi. The latter had very good season under the Lampre’s colors and will take to heart on keeping the momentum.

He will not be disoriented as a strong Italian contingent including Simone Ponzi, one of the revelations of last year, the experienced Enrico Gasparotto and Paolo Tiralongo but also promising Francesco Masciarelli who seem to reachmaturity also joined rank. Finally fast man Jacopo Guarnieri should continue his improvements at the top level to confirm the good results obtained on the younger age groups.

The arrival of Janez Brajkovic and Roman Kreuziger might very well create a deadly combination when the grades will get steep. The former winner of the Dauphine-Libere 2010 now want to fly on his own after being a luxury teamate of Contador or Armstrong. Roman Kreuziger is expected to reach another plateau this year, aiming for a shot at the Giro d’Italia title.

Another new recruit, the Belgian Kevin Seeldraeyers, will attempt to show that he has the makings of a leader. To a lesser extent, the young Russian Egor Silin hope will also try to make a mark after 2 mixed years under the Katusha banner.

Also interesting to mention are the re-signing of Alexander Vinokourov and Andrei Kashechkin. Vinokourov, who decided to retire before changing his mind, and his compatriot don’t have the legs of the past, but Vino’s panache and aura can still be a driving force for Astana.

Finally, even though the “blue and gold” team of directeur sportif Giuseppe Martinelli was considerably remodeled, Astana can always count on veteran riders Grivko, the Iglinsky brothers, Frederik Kessiakoff, Andrey Zeits, Dimitry Muravyev or the recent additon Evgeni Petrov.